Sharks and Minnows
by ponystripes
Summary: Nobody ever said that kissing was against the rules; Riku claimed that he was simply using his resources. Sacrifices must be made to win, mustn't they? After all, a breathless Sora is well worth bending the rules. Soriku.


_Summary: __Nobody ever said that kissing was against the rules; Riku claimed that he was simply using his resources. Sacrifices must be made to win, mustn't they? After all, a breathless Sora is well worth bending the rules. Soriku._

_Rating: __K+; T, if you squint_

_Warnings? __Talk of sexy swimmers; that's about it. And kissing._

_Pairing(s): __SoraxRiku, a tiny bit of TidusxKairi_

_Disclaimer:__ No, I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters._

* * *

><p><strong>Sharks and Minnows<strong>

Growing up on a body of land surrounded completely by the ocean had, naturally, caused Sora to fall in love with the water. He had learned to swim when he was very young, and ever since then, his love for water had only intensified; he was part fish.

So, naturally, after Sora and Riku had returned to the islands and were—much to Sora's dismay—sent back to high school to graduate, Sora joined the swim team, and then proceeded to beg Riku and Kairi to join the swim team, as well. Kairi had thought it was a _swell _idea.

Riku, on the other hand, hadn't been so easy to convince. But after a week or two of _Riku, please? I'll do your homework for the whole season! _and _Come on, Riku, you know you love the water! _and _Rikuuuuuu! Riku, Riku!, _Riku began to think that if Sora asked him _one more time _to join the swim team, then he was going to drop-kick Sora into the pool with one-hundred pound weights tied to his ankles. Of course, Sora, being Sora, just so happened to ask Riku _one more time _to join the swim team, and, Riku, being Riku, did not end up drop-kicking Sora into the pool, but instead, ended up joining the swim team.

Kairi couldn't say that she had been surprised.

Thus, in conclusion, Sora, Riku, and Kairi were all on the swim team, along with Wakka, Tidus, and a few other kids from their high school.

And that was how it all began.

* * *

><p>If Riku was being honest—but who was honest these days?—he'd say that he thought swimmers were sexy. They were lean, fit, normally half naked, and always dripping water. But in particular, he thought that Sora was sexy, <em>especially <em>when he was swimming.

Riku couldn't really put his finger on _why _Sora swimming was sexy, though. Maybe it was the way his body would arch underwater when he would dive down deep to kick up and perform his perfected butterfly stroke. Maybe it was the way he seemed to fly through the water. Maybe it was the way goggles looked on Sora's baby-cute, tanned face. Maybe it was the way Sora's toned arms would move when he would practice his backstroke. Or maybe it was just because when Sora was swimming, Sora was half naked and wet, and well, that was sexy in itself.

And so, Riku often found himself drifting off into his own little world at swim practice, staring at Sora and receiving odd looks when Sora would wave his hand in his face and say _Hello? Earth to Riku? _But eventually, Sora seemed to just get used to Riku's odd, dazed stares.

Kairi would have even said Sora was beginning to like the way Riku would look at him.

* * *

><p>Sharks and minnows was Sora's favorite game because Sora was able to hold his breath for <em>so long—<em>all that work in Atlantica hadn't been for nothing, after all—that the _sharks_ were never able to catch him since he barely ever came up for air before he reached the other end of the pool; he was always the last minnow standing.

The rules were that the sharks—whoever they may be at that moment—had to catch the minnows—whoever wasn't a shark at that moment. In order to catch the minnows, the sharks had to touch the minnows on the top of their heads, but only when their heads were above water, or else it wouldn't count. A minnow was safe if he or she reached the other end of the pool without being tagged by a shark; Sora was normally the only one left as a minnow by the end of two or three rounds.

Naturally, when the team decided they wanted to take a break from actual swimming and play a game of sharks and minnows, Sora was all for it.

The team divided in two. Sora and Kairi ended up as minnows, along with about six other teammates, while Riku, Tidus, Wakka, and five others were sharks.

The game began.

Kairi was the first minnow to be tagged by a shark, which wasn't unusual. Tidus had tagged her on the top of the head as she came up—almost at the other end of the pool—and Kairi had shoved him under the water playfully, exclaiming that _That's not fair; you're five times the swimmer that I am, Tidus!, _but Tidus had only laughed, pulled her under the water, and dragged her to join him and the other sharks.

Riku always joked that Tidus and Kairi should date. Kairi would blush, and Tidus would roll his eyes, throw something at Riku, and mutter something along the lines of _shove it, Riku. _Riku would chuckle quietly before turning his attention back to his spiky-haired best friend or whatever he would be doing.

Now would be one of those times that Riku would tease them, had he not been more focused on _how _he was going to _finally tag Sora, dangit, because Sora never got tagged. _And when Jake, one of the other boys on the team, had yelled out _swim, minnows, swim, as fast as you can! _Riku had been off, under the water, and after his prey.

Sora knew that Riku was just as good a swimmer as he, and that they could both hold their breath for longer than what would be considered normal, but when he saw Riku's silver hair flash in his peripheral vision, he didn't think much of it. Sora was headed toward the other end of the pool at a leisure pace, relishing in the refreshing feel of cool water running through his spikes of hair.

But then, suddenly, Riku was in front of him, blocking his path through the water. Even underwater, the smirk adorning Riku's pretty face was evident, and even though Sora couldn't see his sea-green orbs through his shiny goggles, he knew that they were dancing with a challenge.

Sora would have laughed merrily, and said _you're on_ had he not been under water.

Thus, the battle began.

* * *

><p>Riku advanced on Sora, performing an underwater breaststroke to rush his friend to the wall, where Sora raised an eyebrow when he felt his back pressing against the slick surface. Riku knew he only had a minute—maybe a minute in a half, if he was lucky—before they both needed to go up for air so that their lungs wouldn't explode, but really, that was all Riku needed.<p>

With a close-mouthed grin, Riku grabbed hold of Sora's wrists and pulled him downward. They were in the deep end of the pool, which was about nine feet deep, and so when his feet pressed against the bottom of the pool, he knew he would be able to push off the bottom to beat Sora to the surface in order to tag him.

Sora, ever confused, tilted his head underwater in a silent question, which left Riku slightly amazed because even in water, his spikes were still spiky, which really was odd. Riku threw the thought out of his mind, focusing on his plan, and the slight stinging of his lungs saying _hello, I kind of need some air here, so hurry up, would you?_

And so, with that message sent from his lungs to his brain, Riku acted. He pressed Sora against the wall of the pool again, pushing up from the bottom only slightly, and then released the remaining air from his lungs in order to push his lips against Sora's.

To say Sora was stunned would be an understatement.

The water made the kiss none-too-pleasant—it was really just slippery and wet and surprise—and upon contact, Sora gasped, which didn't work very well for him because he was _underwater_ and when he realized that _oh, crap, I can't breathe _he also realized that _oh, crap, Riku did that on purpose so he could tag me, that jerk face. _

Because really, it all came back around to the game—which, by that time, the other participants that had surfaced long ago were starting to wonder if Sora and Riku had drowned, but they figured that—based on the best friends' past—they were probably seeing who could hold their breath the longest, which wasn't _that _far off the mark.

Just as quickly as Riku had shoved Sora against the underwater wall and kissed him, Riku was gliding upward and breaking the water's surface, gasping for air, and by that time, Sora's lungs were choking on water and he was kicking his way upward, and when he broke the surface of the water—sputtering and gasping and trying to form a coherent thought—he felt the soft _pat, pat _of a hand on top of his spikes and heard the soft chuckle of Riku behind him, which was soon followed by hoots and hollers that all basically said _you've got to be kidding me, someone actually tagged Sora! Good job, Riku!_

And while the rest of the team was shouting and celebrating—because tagging Sora _really _was _that_ big of a deal—Sora was still coughing and trying to wrap his brain around what had just happened. And while Sora was still discombobulated, Riku leisurely swam over to Sora, a flashing grin upon his face.

_What's wrong, Sora? _And Sora flashed Riku an _I-don't-even-know-how-to-think-right-now_ look, and then Riku laughed—it was a pretty laugh that made his pretty features seem even _more _pretty—and said _well, you seem a bit breathless; why don't you sit the next round out?_

Sora couldn't even find the words to refuse the offer, and so he sat out, all the while thinking about the slippery feel of Riku's underwater kiss, and feeling a desperate desire to feel how Riku's kisses would be without the water involved.

* * *

><p>When Sora and Riku were the only two left in the guy's locker room, Sora finally found his voice.<p>

_You cheat. _He stated, hands on bathing suit clad hips. Riku, who had his back turned toward Sora and who was currently drying his silver locks of hair, turned to look at Sora from the corner of his eye, aqua orbs flashing with satisfaction.

_Not really. No one ever said that kissing was against the rules. I was just using my resources. _

And Sora jutted out his bottom lip in a pout before turning around and proceeding to dry his own hair. Once Sora and Riku were semi-dry, towels slung over their shoulders and ready to head on home, Sora decided to speak again.

_Well. I have to admit, it was a good strategy. I would have never thought of that. _And Riku chuckled, ruffled Sora's hair and said that _of course you wouldn't have; you're not as awesome as I am. _

Surprisingly, Sora didn't defend himself, but instead, he blushed, which did not go unnoticed by Riku. He looked up at Riku, lip jutted out in a pout once again and—in a very shaky, soft voice that Riku had to strain to hear—said:

_Well, uhm, do you think you could maybe kiss me while our lips aren't all slippery and wet?_ He blushed, and Riku thought it was cute—how he was acting. _You don't have to. I just—_

Riku cut him off with a kiss.

And the battle was won.

* * *

><p><em>Okayy. So. I got this idea when at swim practice. One of my teammates asked if he could use my kickboard to show someone how to do the dolphin kick for the butterfly stroke. And when I gave him the board, he met my eyes, smiled, and said thank you. Now, I just joined the swim team, and I know everyone—maybe not well, but I do know everyone—and I just happened to notice that at that split moment he smiled and said thank you, that his smile was absolutely gorgeous. It was just a simple observation. And then, we played sharks and minnows. And one of my teammates always is the last minnow because he holds his breath the whole length of the pool. On the ride home from swim practice, I let my writer's mind take over and thought 'oh, hey, that'd be a pretty cute story'. So, while this story was inspired by a real-life experience, it isn't one-hundred percent based off of something that happened. But I thought it was cute, so I figured I'd try to write it. <em>

_This is the result. It's fluffy, and friendly, and only slightly romantic—if it could be considered romantic, at all—but I do like it. I don't think I would ever have the guts to kiss someone just to tag them out in the game, though. That's extreme—but Sora and Riku are extreme, so whatevs. _

_For those of you who have read "Miniature", this story is sort of like that one—in the format department, not the tone department, since "Miniature" was very serious in tone compared to this story—meaning that I did the dialogue in italics and not in quotes to add effect to the overall writing (and because it was easier to write that way, believe it or not)._

_Anyway, yes. Very sorry for the long author's notes! Review? _

_Love. Shoe._


End file.
